Ok, so Toodledo needs a UI designer. But what if no professional wants to dedicate his time for free? Then someone else has to step up and take action.

I was thinking that I could be that person.

I only know a little bit about making webpages, but I do have a little experience and I feel that I can take on a good challenge. Since I am a student, I have a little more time than a husband with kids. However, I need some guidance as to what language to use and a really general outline of what exactly a UI designer would have to create. (i.e. what actually happens in the current Toodledo interface when you add a task etc.)

I think what I would have to do is sign up for a new domain and new test Toodledo account. Any suggestions for the domain name?

Funny. I AM a web designer/developer and have considered contacting Toodledo to discuss the possibility of fixing up their UI's to add to my portfolio (when I finally find the time to put it together) and to get some hands on experience with an iPhone app. I couldn't, however, find a way to contact them on the website (granted, I didn't look too terribly hard since anyone in Usability would tell you I shouldn't have to).

This is my first post after a year of using the product. I really wanted to inform those who are considering toodledo that is is a really good product. It took me a long time to begin mastering all the functionality and I am still learning. However I have to say that after a year of using the proplus version there is nothing it does not do that I wanted and showed me some neat things that have really helped me (attaching files to tasks for example). I am not qualified to say much about the UI but can comment that the learning curve is quite steep. (a bit overwhelming at first) Despite this I can fully endorse the product if you want a full functioning 'to do list' that goes beyond the basics. BTW, usual disclaimers: no association at all with the producers.

Just another new user weighing in to say, yeah, the ToodleDo UI is godawful.

(Which is not to say that any other particular program is necessarily better, contra some other posts. I've been comparing a lot of Mac-based task management programs lately, both desktop and online, and IMHO the RTM experience (for example) is even less intuitive than this one. By far.)

Instead of just griping, let me offer some specific examples:
* Folders & Contexts should NOT be combined on a single line in the collapsible sidebar
* If they're over there, then Tags should be over there too. IOW, all the obvious tools for how to arrange and manage your tasks should be available in one unified place.
* Many of the items that *are* prominent in the sidebar are just single-use items of information (e.g., "Scheduler"), and have no business being someplace so prominent.
* The "add task" button is all but hidden in the upper right-hand corner.
* It took me forever to figure out how to adjust my column widths so they'd all fit on my screen -- the tiny "customize" icons off on the right are absurdly easy to miss. (And this is functionality that's a complete no-brainer in almost every other column-using product you'll find on a computer screen.)
* The "Help" page appears to be very useful. God knows how I found it, though (and I bookmarked it as soon as I did), because it's not linked in any obvious place on the home page.

I could go on. The functionality here looks really impressive, and the price is right, and the choice of syncable iPhone apps is appealing... but I'm asking the PTB, whoever they are: please, PLEASE have someone familiar with UI standards redesign this site into something more elegant and intuitive.

(There would, inevitably, be some resistance from folks who have put time and effort into climbing the learning curve of the current version. Give 'em something clearly better, though, and I think that would subside quickly... and be drowned out by the gratitude from newer users.)

Posted by chrisj:
Instead of just griping, let me offer some specific examples:

Great post, chrisj. Very constructive suggestions and I would guess that some are relatively easily doable within the current interface.

I also had difficulty finding the Help page. Now I know where it is it's not so bad but it certainly isn't obvious - click on "Help & News" at the bottom of the menu bar, then click on "Help Topics" which is on the right hand side just above the "Contact Us" box.

I have to agree. I'm a new user, as of yesterday, and this UI makes me cringe. I'm testing this program for a week to see if I can deal with it -- but blergh. If I can find a less cringe-worthy option with the same functionality, I'm going to ditch toodledo.

Hi all!
Im a pro user and this is my first year, love the Toodledo, new on this forum.

I've Tried Nozbe and been with the RTM for quite a while, nothing for me. I moved here from RTM because of Toodledo being more tweakable for my taste.

Regarding the UI matter - oh well, it's not _that_ terrible, specialy now with the Vintom's nice dark theme... but, I wouldn't mind paying the "one time" extra yearly fee, and I'd stick to TD even if you charged us more for the two pro accounts - if the UI is redone in a more professional way.

I'm sorry I don't have any real suggestions here but I'd like to ask for one thing - whatever you do with the interface, if you ever do it, please leave the option for people to stick to the old one, in case they want to.

This is just like being able to skip any upgrades of programs we once bought and like the way they work for us...

I bought and tried Omnifocus and appreciated the UI and power. I switched to Toodledo because it integrates with pocket informant and google. I've tried to leave toodledo behind because of its interface, but keep coming back because of its integration.

I'm a product manager for a large video website. I, like others, started on Omnifocus because I thought their UI made sense and had a intuitive feel. Unfortunately, they continue to tie themselves to the Mac and an antiquated client/server model.

Being the age of asynchronous webservices and "cloud computing", (thanks google!), I searched for web-centric options that were platform agnostic and had iPhone apps. I looked at RTM, Nozbe, and others, but their feature-sets were weak compared to Omnifocus. After trialing Toodledo, you can really see the power underneath the interface. As a geek I love that. However, because the website is not user friendly, I primarily use Appigo's Todo app to interact with the Toodledo services. My wife took one spin on the website and won't go near it again, she sticks with the Todo app.

Jake, I think you need to decide what you want to accomplish with Toodledo. Do you want to focus only on the backend and APIs? If so, license your APIs to other products. For example, Yodlee makes money by powering the transactional information of financial websites like mvelopes, Mint (formerly), etc., but leaves the UX to them. This sounds like it would play to your dev strengths.

Or, do you want to continue to have end-user subscriptions be your bread and butter? If so, you have an opportunity to grow your userbase and income, but you're going to have to spend some $$ to make it (or, barter/trade). You need to have a team that looks at customer needs, the competitive landscape, and creates subsequent requirements (product person) that inform IA and designs (UX/design person) which in turn drive development (you). Marketing wouldn't hurt either.

Or... are you totally happy with how your business is progressing? If that's the case, rock on, as it appears most people in this thread will continue using Toodledo... until something better comes along.